Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES. FIRST WITCH Where hast thou been, sister? SECOND WITCH Killing swine. THIRD WITCH Sister, where thou? FIRST WITCH A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap And munched and munched and munched. "Give me," quoth I. "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master O' the Tiger; but in a sieve I'll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. SECOND WITCH I'll give thee a wind. FIRST WITCH Thou'rt kind. THIRD WITCH And I another. FIRST WITCH I myself have all the other, And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I' the shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev'nnights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. Look what I have. SECOND WITCH Show me, show me. FIRST WITCH Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrapped in a shipwreck when homeward he did come. [Drum within.] THIRD WITCH A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come. ALL The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about, Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace, the charm's wound up. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. MACBETH So foul and fair a day I have not seen. BANQUO How far is 't called to Forres?—What are these, So withered and so wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o' the earth And yet are on 't? Live you, or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. MACBETH Speak if you can. What are you? FIRST WITCH All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SECOND WITCH All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! BANQUO Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? [To the WITCHES] I' the name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favors nor your hate. FIRST WITCH Hail! SECOND WITCH Hail! THIRD WITCH Hail! FIRST WITCH Lesser than Macbeth and greater. SECOND WITCH Not so happy, yet much happier. THIRD WITCH Thou shalt get kings, though be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! FIRST WITCH Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! MACBETH Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more! By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis, But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives A prosperous gentleman, and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence, or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you! [WITCHES vanish.] BANQUO The earth hath bubbles as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanished? MACBETH Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed! BANQUO Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner? MACBETH Your children shall be kings. BANQUO You shall be king. MACBETH And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so? BANQUO To th' selfsame tune and words.—Who's here? Enter ROSS and ANGUS. ROSS The King hath happily received, Macbeth, The news of thy success, and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o' th' selfsame day, He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as tale Came post with post, and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defense, And poured them down before him. ANGUS We are sent To give thee from our royal master thanks, Only to herald thee into his sight, Not pay thee. ROSS And for an earnest of a greater honor, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor; In which addition, hail, most worthy thane, For it is thine. BANQUO What, can the devil speak true? MACBETH The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me In borrowed robes? ANGUS Who was the thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that life Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labored in his country's wrack, I know not; But treasons capital, confessed and proved, Have overthrown him. MACBETH [Aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind. [To ROSS and ANGUS] Thanks for your pains. [Aside to BANQUO] Do you not hope your children shall be kings When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Promised no less to them? BANQUO [Aside to MACBETH] That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange; And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's In deepest consequence. [To ROSS and ANGUS] Cousins, a word, I pray. MACBETH [Aside] Two truths are told As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. [To ROSS and ANGUS] I thank you, gentlemen. [Aside] This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair Andmake my seated heart knock at my ribs Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man That function is smothered in surmise, And nothing is but what is not. BANQUO Look how our partner's rapt. MACBETH [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir. BANQUO New honors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold But with the aid of use. MACBETH [Aside] Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. BANQUO Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. MACBETH Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains Are registered where every day I turn The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. [Aside to BANQUO] Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time, The interim having weighed it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other. BANQUO [Aside to MACBETH] Very gladly. MACBETH Till then, enough.—Come, friends. [Exeunt.]